Some of the materials were new to me, even though I am a nurse and this is my second pregnancy!”

My journey to a calm and comfortable childbirth was not an easy one. I was the girl who said she would never try a natural childbirth. Why, you may ask? Let me start by saying that I am a Registered Nurse. I remember back to my nursing school days very vividly. I remember watching and assisting women with the birth of their babies, watching them scream and writhe in pain. To me, that was no way to welcome the birth of your baby. I knew from that point on that I would be getting an epidural when the time came for me to have babies. I wanted to enjoy the birth of my baby and that did not appear to be possible without an epidural.

Fast forward to June of 2010, we were expecting our first baby, a little girl. We were so excited about adding to our family and could not wait to meet our daughter. I ended up going into labor on my own at 41 weeks. I received my epidural when I was dilated to an 8. I thought that epidural was the best invention in the world. Well, once my water broke, we found meconium present in the amniotic fluid. The NICU team had to be present at the birth. My epidural had me so numb that I pushed for three and a half hours. My fabulous midwife was saying that we might need a vacuum extraction to get my daughter out. Luckily, we did not need that and she was born after a lot of effort on my part. She wasn’t breathing adequately so she had to go to the NICU. I had to stay in my hospital bed because I was too numb to go anywhere. Once my epidural finally wore off, I got to see my daughter…four hours after she was born. I didn’t get the bonding experience I so desperately craved.

When I got pregnant with our second child, I knew that I wanted a better experience. I knew there had to be something more fulfilling available to mothers. I knew that getting an epidural was not an option for me this time around so I started looking into natural childbirths. I researched birth doulas and while doing that, came across the Hypnobabies program. I was skeptical, to say the least, but thought that it would be worth a try. I figured that using my wonderful Hypno-doula, Anne, and using Hypnobabies was my best chance at having a natural childbirth.